Black Money & Tax Evasion in India

In recent years, the issue of corruption and black money has come in the forefront after a series of financial scandals. Generation of black money -- and its stashing abroad in tax havens and offshore financial centres -- has dominated discussions and debate in public fora during the recent past. Members of Parliament, the Supreme Court of India and the public at large have unequivocally expressed concern on the issue, particularly after some reports suggested enormous estimates of such unaccounted wealth being held abroad. After uproar in Parliament, Government of India came out with a White Paper on Black Money in May 2012. The White Paper presented the different facets of black money and its complex relationship with policy and administrative regime in the country. It also reflected upon the policy options and strategies that the Government had been pursuing in the context of recent initiatives, to address the issue of black money and corruption in public life. To meet the deadline set by the Honourable Supreme Court for the previous Government, the new Government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), soon after assuming office on May 26, 2014. Headed by Justice M B Shah, a former judge of the Supreme Court, SIT was notified on May 27, 2014 to look into the issue of black money. The objective of this book is to explain various facets and dimensions of black money and tax evasion and their complex relationship with the policy and administrative regime in the country. It describes the factors which lead to the generation of black money, and records various estimates of black money and tax evasion. It also presents the measures/strategies that the Government of India has been pursuing to tackle this issue, especially recent initiatives and developments. The work, using simple and non-technical language, is descriptive in nature and designed for a cross section of readers for easy understanding of this rather complex branch of fiscal economics.